2009/12/13

Darren Hayes' list of amazing moments in Music in 2009
Current mood: reflective

I usually post some kind of end of year
list of music, films, people, things that I’ve loved.   This year, there were so many great moments in music I
thought I’d just focus on them and write a few words about five key albums that
blew me away.  See if you agree,
disagree or if you haven’t had a chance to check them out hopefully fall in
love with them the way I did.

MIIKE SNOW – MIIKE SNOW

Just the most refreshingly unique take on
pop music to happen since, well Mylo in my opinion.    Absolutely love lead singer Andrew Wyatt’s voice
and have been a fan of Bloodshy and Avant (Christian Karlsson and Pontus
Winnberg) since back in the day.

Considering their pop pedigree it’s so
subversive that they’re responsible for such a cool record that the critics are
lapping up.  It’s a deep, lush,
emotional and dark journey of an album and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

http://www.myspace.com/miikesnow

LADY GA GA – THE FAME MONSTER

More than a few bonus tracks added on to
her hugely successful ‘The Fame’ album – this E.P of 8 songs is actually better
than the album it accompanies. 
It’s like a darker more adrenaline charged version of ‘The Fame’ and has
not left my iPod playlist since it came out.  In particular ‘Monster’ thrills me and ‘Speechless’ kills
me.

Her entire career spans these two
songs.  Brilliant.

http://www.myspace.com/ladygaga

BIFFY CLYRO – ONLY REVOLUTIONS

Bands reach this moment where the loyal fan
base and the mainstream collide. 
U2 did it with The Joshua Tree and recently Kings of Leon had their
moment with ‘Only by the Night’.  
Biffy Clyro have been a left of the centre massive success to those in
the know for a few albums but this one suddenly lurched into my view and has
had me paying attention.  Big
melodies, simple words with big ideas and a big big voice.

Great sounding record from a fantastic
band.

P.S I know the cover I’ve posted is for the
single, ‘The Captain’ and not the album cover.. but I love it!

http://www.myspace.com/biffyclyro

FLORENCE + THE MACHINE – LUNGS

The closest we’ve come to a Kate Bush since
Kate.  And not simply because she
wears floaty clothes and is ‘quirky’. 
She’s a genuine artist with a unique vocal identity that is uncompromised.  In that love or hate way.  I adore the producer Paul Epsworth and
their work together on this record is up there with some of my favorite
productions in the last 20 years. 
Evokes the mood of Kate Bush’s ‘The Red Shoes’ or dare I say it Peter Gabriel’s
‘Us’.  Atmospheric, magic and
ethereal but with teeth.

http://www.myspace.com/florenceandthemachine

LILY ALLEN – IT’S
NOT ME, IT’S YOU

I love it when I
underestimate an artist and they stick the middle finger up to my perception of
them by going away and coming back 
with something so far ahead of where they left off you have no choice but
to bow down and say ‘wow’.

Lyrically and
stylistically light years ahead of her contemporaries.  The concepts of love and
disillusionment would be heavy duty for someone twice her age.  There’s the sonic soundscape which is,
again, in a world of its own thanks to Greg Kurstin.   Nothing else sounded like this on the radio nor did it sound one bit
like her last release.  Could have
been career suicide and yet it was career defining.  Amazing.

http://www.myspace.com/lilymusic

Other notable moments in music were singles.  I loved everything the Black Eyed Peas did – all of Fred
Falke’s remixes and the Freemason’s remix of Whitney Houston’s ‘Million Dollar
Bill’.   The song that I
became obsessed with in the last few weeks is Alica Keys ‘Try Sleeping with a
Broken Heart’.  I hope it becomes a
massive smash hit in 2010.

Moments in film
for me included ‘Let the Right One In’ and ‘Where the Wild Things Are’.   Both for similar reasons.

I have loved
2009.  It’s been a year of complete
reinvention for me and I can’t wait for 2010 to begin the big reveal.

In the meantime,
I hope you have a wonderful holiday period and ace New Year.

See you soon!

xD